All Ireland Club Rankings

2004 saw plenty of movement near the top of the table, but absolutely no movement at the top, as Donemana reigned from start to finish, making it three straight years at the top. They won the NW Senior Cup, the Ulster Cup and were runners up in the Faughan Valley and the Senior League. The only disappointment was in the Irish Senior Cup, although a first round loss to North County was no disgrace. They were/are a phenomenal outfit, and at the time those of us in Dublin may not have appreciated how dominant they were.

Elsewhere there was plenty of movement in the Top 10. North County reached their current highest spot of 2nd on July 11th after beating Phoenix, themselves reaching 6th spot for the first time on July 1st. Clontarf also returned to the peaks they had achieved in 2001 (when they finished 8th). On August 2nd, they got back to 7th in the country before slipping down to 9th at season's end.

In the NCU, North Down and Waringstown both slipped slightly, but Bangor were the main movers in 2004. Regan West moved there from Instonians and made a huge impact with both bat and ball. Bangor won the league, moving up 6 places to 11th in the process

Over in the North West there was also a new kid on the block. Strabane didn't really have any superstars in 2004, just well known players having good seasons. Several Gillespies, Bobby Rao and Terrence Patton all had great seasons, as Strabane lost in three finals, ISC, NW Senior and Faughan Valley. No silverware, but moved up 13 places to 8th in the country.

Three other clubs made big moves in the right direction - one in each province. Ballyspallen romped to the Senior II title, moving up 22 places to 32nd in the process. Derriaghy, with a certain Albert Van Der Merwe in their ranks won Senior II in the NCU, and also moved up 17 places to 25th. Finally, the modern Rush team had taken shape. Mssrs Gull, Shoukat and Iqbal were in harness together for the first time, and they won Section B, rising 19 places to 18th.

It wasn't good news for all clubs though. Armagh were the big losers, the NCU club finishing bottom of Senior II to plummet to 48th in the rankings. Eglinton were also struggling to fill the considerable hole left by Hendy Wallace seven seasons before. Although they weren't relegated, first round losses in the three main cup competitions saw them fall 15 places to 37th. Finally a surprising name. Merrion fell another 15 places to 31st in the country. Kade Beasley and Damien Poder had decent seasons, but that was about it. Matt Petrie was still three years away.

And what of Leinster I hear you ask? 2004 was the infamous year when we finished bottom of Section B, but in reality it wasn't that bad a season. Three wins in the DGM and two wins in the ISC meant that LCC actually moved up a place to 42nd, ahead of YMCA, Old Belevedere and Trinity in the LCU pile.

2005 will be available for viewing soon. If you have any comments, either mail Paul Reynolds here or make a comment on the CricketEurope forum

#	Change	Team	Played	Pts	Average
1	-	Donemana	58	5521	95
2	+3	North County	45	4036	90
3	+1	Brigade	55	4693	86
4	-1	Limavady	54	4465	83
5	-3	North Down	49	4020	83
6	+1	Phoenix	45	3616	81
7	-1	Waringstown	43	3218	75
8	+13	Strabane	52	3716	71
9	+4	Clontarf	46	3270	71
10	+5	Malahide	39	2708	69
11	+6	Bangor	41	2834	69
12	-1	Instonians	44	3053	69
13	-1	Bready	41	2767	68
14	-5	Munster Reds	19	1256	66
15	-5	Cliftonville	43	2635	62
16	+4	Downpatrick	47	2910	61
17	+8	Burndennett	46	2784	61
18	+19	Rush	43	2580	60
19	+8	Glendermott	48	2807	59
20	+4	Ballymena	38	2253	59
21	-13	Carrickfergus	41	2424	59
22	-4	Pembroke	42	2454	58
23	-4	Muckamore	41	2380	58
24	-10	Railway Union	42	2372	57
25	+17	Derriaghy	39	2099	53
26	+3	Lurgan	42	2193	52
27	+5	Lisburn	40	2068	52
28	+7	Cooke Collegians	40	2039	51
29	+11	Woodvale	39	2007	51
30	-4	The Hills	37	1874	51
31	-15	Merrion	42	2142	51
32	+22	Ballyspallen	41	2081	50
33	-10	Ardmore	47	2297	49
34	+4	Coleraine	38	1873	49
35	-7	Belfast Harlequins	45	2168	49
36	+4	Fox Lodge	39	1769	46
37	-15	Eglinton	43	1910	45
38	-7	Creevedonnell	36	1604	43
39	-5	CYM	39	1741	44
40	-4	Drummond	40	1754	43
41	+8	Larne	34	1377	40
42	+1	Leinster	41	1613	40
43	+4	YMCA	40	1579	39
44	-11	Sion Mills	43	1636	38
45	-6	Dunmurry	39	1460	38
46	+5	Bonds Glen	39	1350	35
47	-2	Killymallaght	34	1102	33
48	-18	Armagh	37	1202	32
49	+1	North Fermanagh	32	987	31
50	-2	St Johnston	34	1027	30
51	-5	Old Belvedere	37	1045	28
52	-	Holywood	38	1041	28
53	-10	Dublin University	14	315	23
54	NE	CIYMS	19	399	21
55	-1	Crindle	19	374	19
56	-1	Laurelvale	20	385	19
57	NE	Killyclooney	19	222	12
58	NE	The Nedd	16	90	6

Millpark dropped out from the 2003 rankings